Easter Sunday

Saturday night, I put the girls' hair up in curlers. Ruth wanted her hair a little more of a conservative curl with it curling under all around. Hannah wanted wild curls all over her head. :-)

I did manage to get Hannah's curls to be a bit tamer after a good deal of brushing on Sunday morning. Ruth's hair I curled too thick and I'll have to try again sometime with less hair in each curler. I let her wear my butterfly clip and that made it all good.

I wore a maternity dress that I hadn't worn in a while. It used to be much looser on me. The kids kept telling me that my belly was getting tight. They were impressed with how much the baby has grown.


We have a tradition every year of taking a picture of all the children at church on Easter Sunday. We were missing a couple of families so our children were the only ones present. You wouldn't believe how much work it was to get Jonathan and Elijah to stay still or not make faces for the camera. :-)



Since we were the only ones there we took some individual pictures and group pictures. This was my favorite of the boys pictures. We had them sit on the steps hoping Elijah might stay put better.


Since the boys sat on the step, we got a picture of the girls sitting on the steps. They felt like princesses in their pretty dresses. Next year we'll have Elisabeth in the picture.


Ruth took this picture of me and Scott. Joshua also got a picture with Scott's phone. We also set Scott's phone on a timer and got a family picture. I need to get him to transfer that one to me so I can post it.

Services went well. I taught Hannah, Jonathan, and Elijah during Sunday School. Scott preached an excellent sermon from Exodus about the Passover and the last plague of Egypt. Scott brought out a little fact that I had never thought about. Pharoah wasn't the firstborn in his family. His firstborn son died but he did not die. I thought that was interesting.

Another point in Scott's sermon that was thought provoking is how Pharoah would have let the men go worship God by themselves, but wanted them to leave their women and children behind. Scott mentioned how that was the same thing Satan tries to get families to do today. Satan will tell parents, "Oh, it's okay for you to go to church and follow God, but just leave your kids to do what they want to. You don't have to take them with you." You can see this happening all around. People saying they want to follow God but on Satan's terms not how God wants them to.

We need to stand up like Moses did and say, "No, we're taking our families with us. We're not going to leave anyone behind."

Sunday night we had a good lesson on Complaining. Our family was the only ones that showed up for the evening service, but we had a great lesson and discussion despite our low attendance. The lesson talked about the Children of Israel complaining in the wilderness because their was no water. We discussed the different ways we should be content under all circumstances. That doesn't mean we can't desire something greater but that we can be content under whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. Hannah informed us that she will never complain again. :-)

After our lesson, we were supposed to have business meeting but we jokingly declared no old or new business and voted to adjourn. We did sit down and talk about the problem we have with our attendance and discussed what we might can do to help improve our current ministries at the church.

We would like to see everyone, members, nonmembers, and visitors want to come to church. There needs to be something that gets everyone to feel they have a place where they want to come. I'd like to see everyone so excited about what they get to do for God's Kingdom that they are excited and not just coming because there is nothing better to do.

We've discussed different aspects of ministering and how different things we do can help encourage others. I'm hoping some of our discussion will be something we can start incorporating into our own personal service at church and that the changes we make will be the spark that helps get our church on its way to revival. Pray with us as we seek to make a difference in our community.

I also encourage anyone reading my blog to consider your own heart and the reason you go to church. Do you only go when you don't have anything better to do? Do you look at church as only a social club where you go whenever you feel like getting together with friends? Is church only about what you can get out of it?

Or is going to church your way to show God how much He really means to you and to encourage your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Does your heart yearn to hear the message God has prepared for you that day? Do you see church as your opportunity to serve in that greater calling that God has for you?

God wants to be close to you. He wants to do great things for you and through you. Even if you don't see what that great thing is right now, go to church seeking out what God has for you. He'll show you if you really truly want to know. It can't be a half hearted search though. You need to seek God with your whole heart.

My prayer is that everyone will get off the monotonous fence of everyday life and seek a greater relationship with our Heavenly Father. He can show you true happiness and contentment. Go to church and ask God, "What can I do to serve You better?"

You know it would make your pastor's day if you came to him and said, "I want to be more involved in church! What can I do to help?"
And even better than that, it would make God happy!

Jeremiah 29:13 "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."